The cabinet on Monday gave the final approval to the draft of "The Transplantation of Human Organs Law, 2017" aiming to improve the healthcare services by keeping consistency with the excellence in medical science and check trafficking of human organs and their illegal trade.

The approval was given at the regular weekly cabinet meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Additional Cabinet Secretary Ashraf Shameem said the government is going to frame the law to improve the healthcare services by keeping consistency with the excellence in medical science and check trafficking of human organs and their illegal trade.

He said under the proposed law, if anybody gives false information about the close relationship between organ donors and recipients or encourage, provoke or threaten anybody to provide such information, he/or she will face maximum two years rigorous imprisonment or highest Tk 5 lakh fine or both the punishment.

Shameem said if anybody violates other rules of the law or helps others in this regard, he will be sentenced highest three years rigorous jail or fined maximum Tk 10 lakh or given the both punishment. He said if any doctor is convicted under the law, his or her registration given by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council will be scrapped.

The additional cabinet secretary said if any hospital or clinic violates the law, their owner, director and manager or whatever designation they belong will be considered as the offenders unless they are able to prove that the crimes are committed beyond their knowledge and they tried their best to check those.

He said if any hospital or clinic commits any crime under the law, their organ plantation permission will be cancelled along with imposition of fine.

In this connection, he said it was mentioned in general in the existing law enacted in 1999 that if anybody violates any rule of the law or helps in this regard, he or she will face maximum seven years and minimum three years rigorous imprisonment or Tk three lakh fine or both the punishment.

Shameem said the people of the country don't need to go abroad for their organ transplantation if it is effectively starts in Bangladesh. -BSS